When I began this website one year ago today, TXDOT's Librarian, Anne Cook, sent me a collection of 1939 era courthouse photographs from their collection. These black and white images of county courthouses have made their way onto every completed county page of this website. They're not exactly professional quality, and many are truly just a photograph of trees surrounding a courthouse, but they are an important part of this website's attempt to convey both the present and the past of our Texas courthouses. My eventual "discovery" of the website courthousehistory.com (a collection of images of every county courthouse in the USA) made a job a whole lot easier, too! Thank goodness for Google. The scrapbook images in this post are part of a bonus I received from the TXDOT Library. These are pages illustrating Texas county courthouses, and some context -- a roadside historical marker, a TXDOT Section Warehouse, etc. I thought of these 70 plus year old pages today when I sat down to write something about the first year of this website. The scrapbook collection of images for each county are similar to my own attempts to photograph not just a building, but also to capture something of its setting, or context, and the landscape of the county I'm visiting. No matter how banal or unremarkable. In that sense, I'm not inventing anything new; just updating what others, like Dr. Mavis Kelsey, have already accomplished with their photographs of Texas courthouses.

Sterling County circa 1930's. Image courtesy TXDOT

As I've traveled thousands of miles around my favorite state in the last few years, I've only grown more fond of Texas -- it's highways, vast horizons, dense forests, cluttered cities, interesting architecture, and more than a few fascinating courthouses. The count now stands at 173 counties, leaving just 81 to go. Of course, this project and this website will never be truly "finished." Texas is growing and maturing too much to allow anyone to have ever "seen it all." Thank goodness!

Len, this is one of the finest and most worthwhile projects I have ever heard of. Kudos to you for your foresight, standards of excellence, talent, and commitment to Texas and architectural history.

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Leonard G. Lane, Jr., AIAleonardlane@gmail.comI wasn't born in Texas but I got here as soon as I could. I'm an architect. And, a photographer on the side.I live in Houston, with my wife, Donna. Our favorite daughter, Hilary, recently passed the Texas Bar exam. She took the oath as an attorney in the historic Harris County courthouse on Friday, November 15, 2013.